Papers

I have always been fascinated by the '70s Watergate era - All the President's Men, Katherine Graham and The Washington Post, Executive branch hubris and more. One of the most intriguing events of this era spurred my favorite legal case - New York Times Co. v. United States - otherwise known as the Pentagon Papers case.

Earlier this month, I had the great pleasure to attend a UCLA screening of the new Oscar®-nominated documentary about this event, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. Judith Erlich and Rick Goldsmith have crafted an enthralling film that plays out like an nail-biting thriller. It's a must-see.

Daniel Ellsberg was a Defense Department analyst at RAND, who at one time was a Pentagon employee and Vietnam War envoy patrolling the jungles. He became disillusioned that the U.S. government was lying to the American people about the scope of our involvement and likelihood of victory in the war, in the midst of escalating conflict. In 1971, he covertly copied and leaked the Pentagon Papers, a classified history of U.S. involvement in the war, to the New York Times in order to expose these lies. Their publication of the documents sparked the historic court case which went to the core of First Amendment rights, changed public opinion about the war, and ultimately helped end it. It also led to President Nixon forming his White House Plumbers Squad to discredit Ellsberg, and later, to the events of Watergate.

Dr. Ellsberg attended the event for a lively Q&A and discussion after the screening. It was quite a thrill to hear from this legendary whistleblower at a time when the U.S. is once again engaged in a similar decades-long conflict in Afgahnistan. Whatever your politics, Ellberg's story of great personal risk in the face of a moral dilemma is awe-inspiring and certainly begs the question, "What would you have done in his shoes?".

Hmm.